High On Life Review
Played on PC
Developed by Squanch Games
Released 13th December 2022
Founded by the co-creator of 'Rick and Morty', Justin Roiland aimed to use the studio Squanch Games as a platform to create virtual reality titles, embedded with the classic Adult Swim humour that defines 'Rick and Morty'. One such result was 'Trover Saves the Universe' which received generally positive reviews with a 76 on Metacritic. The game heavily focuses on utilising the comedy of Roiland's TV efforts. Since it did so well, a re-traversing of familiar ground was found to be inevitable with 'High On Life', beginning development shortly after 'Trover's release. This game was a first for the studio as it wasn't a VR experience, and a lot of the missing yet necessary polish to make it a more thriving shooter is evident as you play the game. Maybe I'm not the target audience for the humour, maybe because I've played better games with similar mechanics so I held it up to those standards, or maybe because the game is just bad, is why I didn't enjoy my 7-hour playtime.
Story
The story's ideas were quite interesting but its plain execution of a typical "save the world" narrative makes for an unfulfilling playthrough. The premise of 'High on Life' is that, while an alien invasion by the G3 Cartel occurs on Earth, the protagonist is trained to be a bounty hunter who will stop the invasion. This basic tale of the protagonist going from nothing to the "hero of the universe" is done in a painfully average manner with little to no deviations in the story's structure making it predictable and repetitive. This lacking experience is even more shocking given that the game had so many opportunities to do something of value with the presence of sentient, talking alien guns, but instead belittled their position to that of noise cluster when you're amidst a gunfight.
The concept of the Cartel enslaving humans and harvesting them as fuel for their drugs was something that had caught me off guard, in a good way. Still, the game's use of these polarising tones between a disturbing plot and its attempts at slapstick comedy resulted in either a decently enjoyable moment or so poorly done that it made me want to close the game. The entire game is like this; there will be seemingly interesting ideas that it will introduce like the power and control of conglomerates, inter-planetary relationships and more, but then it will execute the idea in either the most exhaustingly typical fashion or with some of the most draining humour slapped on to it. I'm not saying I expected a 'Mass Effect' game with a hint of comedy, but I did expect better.
Gameplay
The gameplay has the necessary depth to be great, but its oversimplicity in enemy design limits just how far that greatness goes. 'High on Life' is a first-person shooter with the movement mechanics to potentially put you in a flow state, with a grapple, jetpack flying and dashing, alongside some versatility in combat options such as parrying, alternate fires and a special ability for each gun. With this alone, the feel of the whole game exceeded my expectations for what I thought would've been a stale shooter experience. Instead, I got something that could've been a decent joyride, if it wasn't for the lack of enemy variety. The enemies that get introduced never exceed the standard 3-4 types that are found in most generic shooters. There simply isn't enough challenge that comes from them or experimentation that can occur amidst a gunfight - the enemies just flood an area and stand there, shooting at you. Having such variety in movement and combat, yet only utilising it all because you want to spice up the gameplay loop personally is quite disappointing. While the diversity in weaponry is quite good, with abilities, alternative fires and equipable mods bettering the experience, the "talking gun" aspect can dampen moments as the poor comedic caricatures of each gun and their non-stop talking can become irritating and distract from the enjoyment that derives from shooting things. Other minor issues within the game consist of the guns not having the feedback needed to feel powerful and worthwhile, and level design ranging from being well-thought-out to a plain area filled with a couple of walls.
Bossfights
As for the bossfights, they were surprisingly excellent. Each boss utilised each of the game's combat systems well, to the point they felt like fights from a Metroidvania with how the movement and shooting came into synch. Not a single fight was repetitive and they were all enjoyable. However, the only lacking aspect was their presentations. The designs of the bosses, accompanying soundtracks and their environments, looked and felt bland, offering little to nothing to visually or audibly amplify the duel. As a consequence, there was nothing about the fights that could stick with you long after you've completed the game.
Characters
The characters are easily the worst aspect. The amount of forced humour here really hurts the game as a whole as almost everything, tries to come up with quips and jokes that amount to nothing more than insufferable dialogue that is so focused on trying to be funny that it becomes painful. Occasionally, a joke out of the hundreds thrown your way lands, and its deadpan or absurdly stupid nature works to a charm. Other times, it is sighable and simply hurtful to the core.
There is some clever writing though. Whether it was the meta way of doing a tutorial (by doing a tutorial in a game that you play within the game), clever 4th wall-breaking like your guns telling you how deranged you are for wanting to shoot civilians, or cool pop-culture references like pointing out that the futuristic elevator you're on is identical to so many other games and animes. But the best moment has to be with the boss who tries incredibly hard to be like Psycho Mantis but fails due to how far technology has advanced since the PS1 era - times like these are when the game successfully produced a smile on my face.
However, the blandness of the cast of characters doesn't help propel what could've otherwise been excellent moments of writing. The antagonists are incredibly forgettable, basic and stereotypical in the role they serve; from the mad, paranoid scientist to the main, big bad guy behind everything. The guns you can talk with are also one-dimensional and exaggerated, which act out of character for scenes of unity and cliche friendship inspiration. Every other NPC continues off of this by having a running gag act as their only personality trait, with little investment in the quality of their dialogue.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere at first glance seems like it would offer much, from a visual and audible point of view, but the longer it lingers around you, the less of it sticks with you. The visuals consist of this dirty, yet florescent and galactic design of environments like the shantytown of Blim City Slums, the wilds of Zephyr Paradise or the sophistication of Nipulon's offices. They all looked great initially, but the more I tried to immerse myself in these locations, the less I seemed to remember their vibrancy and they ended up standing out less. The best way to put it is that they have a strong first impression, but fail to continue to meet up to the expectations they set for themself. This is the case with arguably the best-looking area of the game, Gatlus, and that might be because of how little time you spend on the planet, enough for the intergalactic destruction to impress you, but not long enough for the impact to deteriorate. The audio design is similar in that it doesn't have the quality to last long and embed itself into your memory.
Story - 5/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Bossfights - 6/10
Characters - 3/10
Atmosphere - 5/10
SUBPAR
Dreadfully plain and uninteresting at times, 'High on Life' only has one standout, and it’s the unfunny humour.
